Notices by Katie Fenn (katiefenn@front-end.social)

What’s really annoying about being lectured about the UK’s debt-to-GDP is that the bulk of what we, as a country, owe was accumulated during the global financial crisis when we bailed out banks.

UK citizens are being told that “our” debt is too high, and “we” need to pay off that debt through austerity and public service cuts. So please remind me: whose debt is it, exactly?

The financial industry recklessly gambled their way to ruin and accrued staggering amounts of debt. However, the UK public kind of need banks, so the country agreed to take on that debt to bail the banks out.

They told us “that’s yours now”, and are now making demands about how much debt we are allowed to have? Excuse me?

@aesthr I’ve often gotten feedback at work that I’ve spent too much time writing proposals and planning work.

It’s almost always ended up saving time, because what people don’t understand is that writing is a tool for structuring thinking, just as writing code is.

After six months on the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, I’ve decided to give the Continental Contact Urban tyres a go.

I’ve been pleased with the impressive puncture protection from the Marathon tyres, but found they ruined the ride quality to the point I lost trust in the bike.

The difference was really noticeable. The bike felt nervous, and unstable over cracks in the road. I definitely felt less confident in braking hard when I had my crash earlier in the year.

It felt like it was time to sacrifice a bit of puncture protection for ride quality.

Can almost hear the big Channel 4 kaiju

Finding bells for modern road and mountain bikes is surprisingly difficult. The handlebars on my new bike are 36.6mm oversized at the clamp, and the largest diameter bell clamp you can find is 31.8mm.

No wonder nobody uses them anymore - but I will die on this hill. Bells are absolutely essential.

An incredible turnout in Sheffield today to protest the historic miscarriage of justice in the UK Supreme Court.

Made my heart sing to bump into friends there. Was in tears by the end of it.

A day we’ll all remember 🏳️⚧️

(photo: Now Then magazine)

@goatsarah Even more embarrassing!

@goatsarah She didn’t even get the right station. Imagine confusing Euston and Kings Cross 🙄

@goatsarah @christineburns Meanwhile, they were selling dual redundant flight speed indicators, a key safety feature which marginally increased costs but would have prevented the disaster, was being flogged as a premium optional extra.

Post McDonnell Douglas Boeing is a fractal of corporate horrors.

@goatsarah I’ve removed it from my phone. I’ve set up Buffer so that I can post to both BlueSky and Mastodon, but not see my feed.

The doomscrolling is real and corrosive to my health.

Better to gather news from Discord servers instead.

@caolan Have been looking forward to this mission for 25 years 😄

Capitalism isn’t a market of retailers offering a choice of clothing for everyone.

Capitalism is one supplier of clothing for fat and tall people selling their clothing through every other retailer so that you have no choice anymore and shops only have to actually sell clothes for skinny people.

On Monday, the Scottish NHS are going to revoke the right of trans people in Scotland to self-refer to their gender identity service. They will have to convince a GP to refer them.

No clinical reason has been given. No trans people have apparently been consulted. We only know because this information was leaked ahead of time.

If you’re thinking of a referral to a Scottish GIC, do so TODAY.

https://x.com/PhilosophyTube/status/1821598135161917846

@goatsarah Would love to see Tesla’s summon feature try to solve this one. No, really, it would be hilarious

@christineburns @goatsarah Honestly in terms of the general electorate, there’s no votes in anti-trans policies.

If there is political maths being done, it’s all about the influence to be gained among people who are active politically, both within parties and without.

Terfs are over-represented in political parties.

@goatsarah My feeling is that the Cass report has given politicians in the “centre ground”, the ones that we knew we couldn’t trust, a cover story to move away from supporting trans people on this. The Wes Streetings who were phoning in their allyship all along.

I’d be happy to be corrected, but nobody who seriously campaigns for better trans healthcare is happy about the proposed ban, it’s the chancers who don’t stand for anything that have abandoned us.

@goatsarah That said, I do agree that DIYing has been somewhat pushed underground. Having made the decision to switch to the NHS in the mid-2000s (I was transitioning at university and broke), I’ve always got my prescriptions from an NHS GP.

I wouldn’t even know where to start with DIY, which is playing on my mind, I admit.

@goatsarah Honestly, money isn’t why they do it. If it was only money that people like Elon and Joanne wanted, we’d have never heard from them again. They only wanted more power and influence.

It’s what happens to people when all their most fabulous dreams come true, but they realise they still live in a world that they despise, and which hates them back in equal measure.